Mikel Arteta spoke to the media ahead of Arsenal’s Premier League clash with Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Bukayo Saka and Mikel Arteta (Image: (Ryan Pierse/Getty Images))
Manager Mikel Arteta has confirmed Arsenal will be without Bukayo Saka against Manchester City, but expects Noni Madueke to be fit to feature. Saka has not featured for the Gunners since losing to Josep Guardiola’s side in the Carabao Cup final last month.
And although the winger joined the England squad last month, he left camp after just one day and has missed three Arsenal games since then. And Arteta confirmed his team will once again be without the 24-year-old for Sunday’s clash at the Etihad.
Asked about Saka, the Gunners manager admitted: “Bukayo is unavailable, that’s for sure.” He further added: “I hope he recovers quickly because he’s a great player. He’s starting to do things. Let’s see how quickly he can be with us.”
However, regarding Madueke, Arteta provided a more positive update. Maduke collapsed in need of treatment midway through the second half of Arsenal’s Champions League match against Sporting CP on Wednesday night.
It soon became clear that the winger was unable to continue playing, and television cameras caught him limping off the pitch, being helped by members of Arsenal’s medical team. But when asked for an update, Arteta said: “We have another training session tomorrow. He didn’t look too bad after the game and he’s a player who overcomes pain. But we’ll have to wait and see.”
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Martin Odegaard, Riccardo Calafioli and Julian Timber have been sidelined in recent weeks and when asked about the trio, Arteta said: “Yeah, we’ll try again. Some of the players are quite close, but the recovery time is short. We’ll try tomorrow.”
Odegaard provided an update on his fitness in a column in the club’s official program for the game against Sporting, saying: “Last week in Portugal I had to leave the game in the second half with some pain in my knee. That’s why I missed the weekend game.”
“I suffered a little bit against Sporting, but I hope it’s not too bad. It’s an important period of the season, the Premier League and the Champions League, so I want to be back as soon as possible.”
The Gunners hold a six-point lead over their nearest rivals, but Josep Guardiola’s side have a game in hand in Arteta’s side. However, Arsenal have struggled with instability in recent weeks, losing the Carabao Cup final, being eliminated from the FA Cup and losing to Bournemouth in their most recent Premier League match.
Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta (Image: David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
However, the win over Sporting on aggregate kept the Gunners’ hopes of winning a European and domestic double alive. And ahead of the match, City star Antoine Semenyo said: “We’ve been in good form in the last few games and are probably playing the best football we’ve played in the second half of the season.”
“So I think it’s a good time to play them. Where they were down, we came back up, so it’s going to be interesting.”
In an interview with In The Mixer, presented by Sky Bet, he said, before adding: “To be honest, we were excited. I feel like we’re ready for Sunday’s game. It’s going to be a big game. It could decide the title? I don’t know.”
“But it’s going to be a tough game, don’t get me wrong. They obviously lost to Bournemouth, but they’re still top of the table. We’re still chasing them, so we have to respect them in that way.”
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